Take Notice
by smallearthcat
Summary: Martha finds herself connected to the Doctor in an unexpected way. Ten/Martha.


"What?"

Martha hears the high-pitched almost-shriek coming from the console room and runs in that direction. She skids to a halt, looking around for signs of danger, but all she sees is the Doctor frantically circling the console, pushing buttons and looking at screens.

She calms slightly, seeing no imminent danger, and wishes she was back in her room, still sleeping. Her mind flits over fragments of the dream she had been having, but she quickly pushes such thoughts out of her mind, trying not to blush. Dreaming about the Doctor was one thing, but thinking about it while he was in the same room? Not going to happen.

The Doctor picks that moment to look up at her, and he looks surprised.

"What's wrong?" Martha asks.

"Nothing, why would anything be wrong?"

_Of course nothing's wrong. These readings must be wrong. The old girl clearly needs some maintenance, and I've spent far too little time with her lately. And I...must just be hallucinating. Yes, hallucinations could account for that._

Martha wonders what the Doctor is talking about and is tempted to ask, but he's already back to peering at the screen, poking a few more buttons. She briefly considers kicking him in the bum and laughs silently at the image that provokes. The Doctor turns around and glares. "Now is not the time to be kicking me. Well, it never really is, but now is _really_ not the time."

Martha blinks. "How did you...?"

"Ah yes, well." The Doctor turns and looks her straight in the eye. _I think we are somehow psychically connected._

"You mean we can read each other's minds?" Martha knows her shock comes through in her voice, but the idea is almost unbelievable, despite the fact that the Doctor just talked to her without moving his mouth.

"Well, not exactly. You seem to be able to hear my verbal thoughts, and I seem to be able to see your visual ones."

Martha's dream from the previous night guiltily flashes through her mind before she can stop it, and the Doctor looks away. "Yes, like that."

_Exactly like that. Very distracting, Hard to know what to do. Not even sure what's going on here._

He is clearly flustered and begins poking at the TARDIS console again, although Martha knows now that it's more a nervous reaction than something that will do any good. "No chance of getting this figured out quickly, then?"

The Doctor shakes his head, and she can see that he's not really focusing on what he's doing anymore. Which, of course, could be due to the fact that she's currently running through all of the nasties they've been in contact with recently who could have done this. She tries to push the images away, realizing that they're distracting and wishing that she thought in visuals less often.

"Maybe if there was more distance between us it wouldn't be as strong and you could concentrate better?" she suggests, not knowing what else might help.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." _Or to know the range of it if we can't get rid of it right away._

Martha isn't quite used to pessimism like that from the Doctor, so she opens the TARDIS door with less reluctance than she might usually have if she was leaving without him. The surroundings look harmless enough - a wide, open field and nice weather - so she steps out and closes the door behind her.

_Come back in two hours, alright? That should be long enough._

Martha has no way of answering the Doctor, so she heads out across the field at a leisurely pace. The Doctor's thoughts are intermittent, mutterings that make little sense to her, and she keeps walking until she finally stops hearing them, deciding that she's probably gone far enough. The sunshine is warm and the grass is soft, so Martha lies down, putting her arms behind her head and looking up at the sky.

She basks for awhile before she really gets bored and her thoughts start to wander. She initially tries to push them away, but she hasn't heard anything from the Doctor since she got there and decides that a little thinking won't hurt. Martha can't help but remember her dream again, which she is glad to think of now that she's well away from the Doctor.

Actually, it had been remarkably similar to her current surroundings, except that the Doctor had been there with her, lying back and enjoying the beautiful day. She was sure they were talking, although she had no idea what about. And then suddenly, they were face to face and the Doctor was leaning in to kiss her, his hand running slowly up her side.

Their legs twined together and she wrapped her arms tightly around his back, one straying up to his neck to play with his hair. Before long, they broke apart, panting for breath and coming back together almost immediately. Her hand moved down his back and got a firm grip on his...

Martha shakes away her thoughts and looks at her watch, realizing that she really should be getting back to the TARDIS before the Doctor starts wondering where she is. She goes more quickly on the way back than she did leaving, and when she is most of the way there, she starts picking up the Doctor's thoughts again.

_Shit, shit. No, must stop. Martha will be back soon, any minute in all probability, might even be hearing this now-_

As Martha approaches the TARDIS, she sees that the Doctor is waiting not-so-patiently for her and is, in fact, wearing a path in the grass where he's been pacing back and forth. He looks up at her, and his eyes are a bit wild. He pulls on his hair before stalking up to her in a few strides, grabbing her by the shoulders, and pulling her into a kiss.

Martha is shocked, but not enough so that she doesn't kiss back. When the Doctor pulls away, he looks slightly calmer and kind of abashed. "Martha Jones, you are distracting."

It takes Martha only a moment to figure out what he's talking about. "You mean you," she gulps, "saw what I was thinking about? Even though I stopped hearing your thoughts?"

The Doctor nods. "Apparently my range is greater than yours."

"So you kissed me?"

They stare at each other in silence for a long enough time that Martha is almost sure the Doctor won't answer her and will instead put the episode out of his mind and refuse to mention it. The Doctor's eyes widen, finally. "You didn't hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Picture something, anything."

Martha replays the last bit of her dream, the part where she and the Doctor are naked and sweaty in the field, even though she knows she probably shouldn't. His expression, however, doesn't change at all.

"It's fixed, then? But how? I could still hear you on my way back."

"I don't know, but I think maybe...yes, the old girl and I are going to have to have a little chat." The Doctor strokes the side of the TARDIS fondly, and Martha gets it. Somehow, this was the TARDIS' doing. As they go back inside, Martha strokes the side as well. She may not know the TARDIS' reasons for psychically connecting her to the Doctor, but she is grateful that something finally got the Doctor to take notice of her.


End file.
